Apple saw double-digit declines in Mac unit sales last month but is nonetheless seen in good shape to pull off a March quarter that's fairly in-line with current Street estimates thanks to accelerated shipments of new desktop models this month.

NPD data released Monday shows Mac sales for the month of February fell 16% when compared to February of 2008. Gene Munster, an analyst with Piper Jaffray, analyzed the data alongside tepid results from January and his expectations for March.

His conclusion: Apple will still manage to sell 2.0 to 2.2 million Macs for the combined period of January through March, which would represent yearly Mac unit growth of anywhere from -13% to -4%, or a rate that's likely to fall in line to slightly behind Wall Street's average expectations of -4% growth. Apple shipped 2.289 million Macs last March quarter.

"[We] note that year-over-year Mac performance faced aÂ*tough comp in the month of February 2009 due to the February 2008 MacBook Air launch," the analyst told clients in a research note. "That said, we expect Mac NPD data to rebound in the month of March due to the shipment of new iMacs, Mac minis, and Mac Pros in early March."

Therefore, Munster believes the data should be "perceived as a neutral or a slight positive" given the uncertainty surrounding the March quarter due to a pullback in consumer spending that's resulted from the grim state of the global economy.

Following a trend similar to that of the Mac line, iPod shipments also fell 16% year-over-year during the month of February, according to NPD. After applying some analytics, Munster said he believes combined March quarter shipments will come in anywhere from 9.0 to 10.0 million units, compared to Street expectations of 9.5 million units.

The analyst appears to have weighed a portion of his quarterly expectations for full-quarter iPod sales on expectations that "shipment of new iPod shuffles, announced onÂ*3/11, will likely drive improvement in the data in the month of March."

The sales dropped because Mac users are smart and knew that new models where due out any day in March so refrained from purchasing until the new machines were released. You don't have to be the head checker at WallMart to figure that out.

I'm not going to go into discussing details like firewire and processor speeds, but it is obvious to me that Apple should start updating their computer lines more often. The fall in number of iPod sold doesn't surprise me: the market is literally saturated with iPods and would-be iPods, from the expensive to the cheap kinds.

Apple computers, however, will always be unique in design and performance. Let's not forget Apple Inc of today is in fact still a hardware company. All the other branches of business strongly rely on continued and increasing hardware sales. One can see from the success that Apple is enjoying now that people are ready to make the switch (and this despite Apple's premium and the economy). However, today's consumers are not as naive as they once were: they know what questions to ask and what answers to expect. The trick to keep selling hardware is to make sure that however impressing the package, the insides always stay ahead of the competition. The February update was long overdue and, on the face of the incredible success of the new Mac Mini, I'm not the only one to think this way. In my opinion, all of Apple computers should have revisions every 3 to 4 months to keep the specifications of the machines as high as technologically possible in their respective price point. Also, they should introduce a major product upgrade as soon as a new architecture is available (or sooner if Intel and Apple keep being good friends as today).

On another note, Apple's success could easily be tripled by a simple trick: proper support of right-to-left languages in their leading iLife and iWork applications - and I imaging other ones too. For the moment, these programs are a nightmare to work with for those who want to use Hebrew or Arabic (BTW, MS Office for Mac also doesn't work well with RTL languages). Should they fix that, they could open new doors to a level of success they haven't enjoyed so far.

Here we go with all of the arm chair prognosis. We all know Apple's sales are going to decline year over year. Every one expects sales declines. Every electronics company's sales have declined, it has nothing to directly do with Apple or firewire, or copy and paste, or MMS, or any gripe people have with Apple.

It has everyone thing to do with the recession that is effecting everything and everyone.

Apple doesn't make much money from iWork or iLife, tripling sales would do little to help Apple over all. I seriously doubt Hebrew and Arabic specific software would do much to increase sales to any significant degree.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FullGaz

On another note, Apple's success could easily be tripled by a simple trick: proper support of right-to-left languages in their leading iLife and iWork applications - and I imaging other ones too. For the moment, these programs are a nightmare to work with for those who want to use Hebrew or Arabic (BTW, MS Office for Mac also doesn't work well with RTL languages). Should they fix that, they could open new doors to a level of success they haven't enjoyed so far.

Here we go with all of the arm chair prognosis. We all know Apple's sales are going to decline year over year. Every one expects sales declines. Every electronics company's sales have declined, it has nothing to directly do with Apple or firewire, or copy and paste, or MMS, or any gripe people have with Apple.

It has everyone thing to do with the recession that is effecting everything and everyone.

Not to mention even with recession Apple has kept sales going well - almost the only company in the tech sector to do so. Not too shabby (despite Cramer and RBC).

From Apple ][ - to new Mac Pro I've owned them all.Long on AAPL so biased"Google doesn't sell you anything, Google just sells you!"

I bought the 2.26 mini with 4 GB RAM-Was it overpriced for what you get? YES-absolutely.

That being said, it is MUCH BETTER than the 1.83 it replaced. I can actually watch streaming video now without artifacts or "hiccups". Can't wait to have time to get a game installed on it (work is keeping me hopping right now).

In my opinion, this is the most substantial upgrade since the mini was released. The value of the Nvidia 9400 can NOT be overstated.

I bought the 2.26 mini with 4 GB RAM-Was it overpriced for what you get? YES-absolutely.

That being said, it is MUCH BETTER than the 1.83 it replaced. I can actually watch streaming video now without artifacts or "hiccups". Can't wait to have time to get a game installed on it (work is keeping me hopping right now).

In my opinion, this is the most substantial upgrade since the mini was released. The value of the Nvidia 9400 can NOT be overstated.

what streaming video?

my 1.6 mini can "stream video"

and PLEASE provide the link to a 2.26Ghz mini available from Apple, I can see none on either the US or UK store pages

I don't see how an anti M$ stance can be seen as a bad thing on an Apple forum I really can't!

The sales dropped because Mac users are smart and knew that new models where due out any day in March so refrained from purchasing until the new machines were released. You don't have to be the head checker at WallMart to figure that out.

Apple Mac sales have actually slowed two quarters in a row, this one will make it three in row and the culprit has been the lack of desktop updates. Apple FINALLY came to their senses with the iMac, Mac Pro and Mac mini refreshes!

I bought the 2.26 mini with 4 GB RAM-Was it overpriced for what you get? YES-absolutely.

That being said, it is MUCH BETTER than the 1.83 it replaced. I can actually watch streaming video now without artifacts or "hiccups". Can't wait to have time to get a game installed on it (work is keeping me hopping right now).

In my opinion, this is the most substantial upgrade since the mini was released. The value of the Nvidia 9400 can NOT be overstated.

The mini was a great upgrade, no question - except that part of the reason it was a great upgrade is because how extremely lame the mini was not being upgraded for 2 years, so yeah, by contrast this upgrade seems HUGE. Even so, still it was a good upgrade.

Meanwhile the iMac was a super lame "upgrade" - laughable CPU, and NO UPGRADE OF THE MONITOR - why didn't they go LED??!? Frankly, if I had an iMac today, I would never consider upgrading to the new one, there literally is no reason to. Meanwhile, with the mini - I have the old mini - there is definitely an incentive to upgrade.

Overall however, I'd say there is one thing that is going to slow the upgrade numbers for all hardware, IMHO (and that is not even talking about the economy). It's the fact that Snow Leopard is 6 months away. May as well wait for that and then buy your hardware with the SL already on it. I bet you many people think like I do. I'm even worse, because I'll wait a few months for the first point update to SL. That means I'll be buying hardware sometime Feb/March of next year. At that point Nehalem should migrate down to the mobile segment, which means both iMac and the mini might start sporting chips that actually are an improvement... as is, it seems to me, in the real world, the chips have seen minimal improvement the last 2 years (as in actual performance) - I think it will be different with Nehalem. So, bottom line, I expect 2010 to be a banner year for hardware sales for Apple, because that's when I'm buying

The only major gripe I have with the current Macs is that the Price is too high for all of them.
There are other technical gripes regarding the lack of Firewire 400, the lack of mat screens, the 8GB RAM limit on the Quad Mac Pro, the lack of Blue-ray drives, slow refreshes across the line, etc.

Though these are nad decisions taken by Apple, non of them is a show stopper.
Usually, Apple's hardware rocks, but it really all comes down to pricing. In the state of the world economy I can't see how Apple will keep selling with such prices.

Yes, you need it. The day you require Firewire Target Disk Mode to repair your Mac.

If you have two Macs and cable with standard FW connectors on each end. I find that a much easier solution is to just boot from an external USB drive. I have a Time Machine drive that I carry and a small partition of that has OS X installed on it. I only to have one Mac with me to fix anything. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

Dick Applebaum on whether the iPad is a personal computer: "BTW, I am posting this from my iPad pc while sitting on the throne... personal enough for you?"

How to increase Mac sales: place at least one Firewire port on Macbook and MacBook Air (also with Ethernet port and at least two USB2 ports). No such ports, no purchase. That simple.

Maybe for you...for a lot of people (first time buyers)...they couldn't give a rats ass about a FW port. If it were only as simple as putting those ports on those models.

You people need to let the damn FW thing go. It is what it is! There are as many people who couldn't care about FW as those who do.

I don't have FW on my Unibody MacBook and I've never ran into any issues where I needed FW, nor have I wished I had FW. I'd rather have more USB ports to be honest.

Target Disk Mode isn't the end all of repairs...There are other ways to fix a Mac, transfer information, etc...

I'd say sales were down because the economy is in the crapper, this time of the year is Apple's worst for sales, and a lot of people knew Apple was about to release new Macs. The uni-body MacBook and updated MBA has been selling since October. If you remember correctly, that was one of Apple's best quarters in its history. So it has nothing to do with the lack of ports. Pure BS right there. Also, don't forget that Apple still sells the white MacBook with the updated NVIDIA chipset and a FW port for $999. They even still have them demo'd in stores.

I'm not going to go into discussing details like firewire and processor speeds, but it is obvious to me that Apple should start updating their computer lines more often. The fall in number of iPod sold doesn't surprise me: the market is literally saturated with iPods and would-be iPods, from the expensive to the cheap kinds.

Apple computers, however, will always be unique in design and performance. Let's not forget Apple Inc of today is in fact still a hardware company. All the other branches of business strongly rely on continued and increasing hardware sales. One can see from the success that Apple is enjoying now that people are ready to make the switch (and this despite Apple's premium and the economy). However, today's consumers are not as naive as they once were: they know what questions to ask and what answers to expect. The trick to keep selling hardware is to make sure that however impressing the package, the insides always stay ahead of the competition. The February update was long overdue and, on the face of the incredible success of the new Mac Mini, I'm not the only one to think this way. In my opinion, all of Apple computers should have revisions every 3 to 4 months to keep the specifications of the machines as high as technologically possible in their respective price point. Also, they should introduce a major product upgrade as soon as a new architecture is available (or sooner if Intel and Apple keep being good friends as today).

On another note, Apple's success could easily be tripled by a simple trick: proper support of right-to-left languages in their leading iLife and iWork applications - and I imaging other ones too. For the moment, these programs are a nightmare to work with for those who want to use Hebrew or Arabic (BTW, MS Office for Mac also doesn't work well with RTL languages). Should they fix that, they could open new doors to a level of success they haven't enjoyed so far.

Wishful thinking?

Hard to update your lineup when there really hasn't been much to upgrade to and make a worthwhile difference. Simply put, there really wasn't much to upgrade to. Sure, they could have gone to quad-core in some of their products, but why? So 80% of customers can have most of them idling a large portion of the time and have hardware overheating here, there, and everywhere?

I don't think an everyday consumer cares so much about whether it has a core 2 duo or a quad-core CPU in it. When a typical customer comes into a store they aren't specifically looking for a quad-core Mac.

The mini was a great upgrade, no question - except that part of the reason it was a great upgrade is because how extremely lame the mini was not being upgraded for 2 years, so yeah, by contrast this upgrade seems HUGE. Even so, still it was a good upgrade.

Meanwhile the iMac was a super lame "upgrade" - laughable CPU, and NO UPGRADE OF THE MONITOR - why didn't they go LED??!? Frankly, if I had an iMac today, I would never consider upgrading to the new one, there literally is no reason to. Meanwhile, with the mini - I have the old mini - there is definitely an incentive to upgrade.

Overall however, I'd say there is one thing that is going to slow the upgrade numbers for all hardware, IMHO (and that is not even talking about the economy). It's the fact that Snow Leopard is 6 months away. May as well wait for that and then buy your hardware with the SL already on it. I bet you many people think like I do. I'm even worse, because I'll wait a few months for the first point update to SL. That means I'll be buying hardware sometime Feb/March of next year. At that point Nehalem should migrate down to the mobile segment, which means both iMac and the mini might start sporting chips that actually are an improvement... as is, it seems to me, in the real world, the chips have seen minimal improvement the last 2 years (as in actual performance) - I think it will be different with Nehalem. So, bottom line, I expect 2010 to be a banner year for hardware sales for Apple, because that's when I'm buying

I'm thinking along similar lines but with one thing that might prompt me to move on a mini upgrade before 2010. I'm going to be shooting some HD footage in the fall. At that point, the urge to upgrade my computer will be rather significant because I really can't imagine doing work on HD video with my 1.83 mini, not with the Intel GPU and only a gig of RAM.

For sure, though, I'm going to hold off until the new OS is part of the package. I mean with so much scary economic news these days, can I really afford to lose $150 just to upgrade the computer a little sooner? It's inevitable that the new OS will be something that I will migrate to mainly because this update promises to improve performance.

But look at this from Apple's perspective. They waited a ridiculously long time to update the mini and for them to delay the upgrade another six months just didn't make sense. They'll have a good boost to mini sales now and they'll see another spike six months from now when the new OS is released. Then in the new year they can migrate to Nehalem, generating yet another boost. And so on and so on.

I will say, though, that I think the upgrades in performance going forward are going to have minimal impact on how the average mini buyer will use the machine. When you already have a machine with the muscle to handle most of what owners are going to throw at it, what's another 15 or 20 per cent in speed?

I think one of the reasons that computer makers have slowed down in terms of speed upgrades is that machines today are so capable that many customers wouldn't even notice that an upgrade had happened. I can easily imagine now buying a computer and finding it to be just fine for what I need to do three, four, five years from now. There was a time when that wasn't the case and every speed bump, however incremental, was greeted with jubilation. Now, I don't think many are all that excited by it. There's fast, which includes the new mini – provided you get at least 2gigs of RAM - and all we're going to get in the future is even faster. Welcome, sure, but not a big deal.

Apple doesn't make much money from iWork or iLife, tripling sales would do little to help Apple over all. I seriously doubt Hebrew and Arabic specific software would do much to increase sales to any significant degree.

Over 500 million people speak these and other RTL languages. If Apple targets their computers and software correctly they can bring in these markets.

Unfortunately they don't, which partly explains why programs like Mellel have made a killing and why Apple have little relevance anywhere apart from the West (and even then they are still a single-digit market share), Do yourself a favour and stop the gung-ho American 'English for everyone' attitude.

Quote:

Originally Posted by macxpress

Hard to update your lineup when there really hasn't been much to upgrade to and make a worthwhile difference. Simply put, there really wasn't much to upgrade to. Sure, they could have gone to quad-core in some of their products, but why? So 80% of customers can have most of them idling a large portion of the time and have hardware overheating here, there, and everywhere?

I don't think an everyday consumer cares so much about whether it has a core 2 duo or a quad-core CPU in it. When a typical customer comes into a store they aren't specifically looking for a quad-core Mac.

You're right, they don't. But there is a substantial market made of people who do: graphics professionals and gamers. And considering the Mac Pro is 'overkill' (in general) for these people, they want a mid-high end iMac. Which are right now pretty abysmal in hardware terms.

Besides, they might not care now, but in 2-3 years they will care a lot more. And there is nothing worse than buying an Apple computer only to find the lifespan was cut short because Apple couldn't be bothered putting a little more grunt in their machine for those who need or want it.

You people need to let the damn FW thing go. It is what it is! There are as many people who couldn't care about FW as those who do.

There are FAR more people in the computer buying world who don't care about Firewire than who do Hell, there are more people in the computer buying world who have never HEARD of Firewire than there are people who need it.

Could it be they shunned out the entire Matte Display line? Oh wait, I'm sorry I could buy one for $3000.

Come on Apple, money talks, no Matte option on the 15" at the normal cost, no purchase from me and a whole lot of graphic professionals. You remember the graphic professionals? The only ones that bought your products from 1992 to 2001.

Over 500 million people speak these and other RTL languages. If Apple targets their computers and software correctly they can bring in these markets.

Unfortunately they don't, which partly explains why programs like Mellel have made a killing and why Apple have little relevance anywhere apart from the West (and even then they are still a single-digit market share), Do yourself a favour and stop the gung-ho American 'English for everyone' attitude.

Uh huh, and if that number is true then over 10 times that many don't. Which only proves the OP's point - that adding that support would result in minimal change in Apple's finances.

Could it be they shunned out the entire Matte Display line? Oh wait, I'm sorry I could buy one for $3000.

Come on Apple, money talks, no Matte option on the 15" at the normal cost, no purchase from me and a whole lot of graphic professionals. You remember the graphic professionals? The only ones that bought your products from 1992 to 2001.

Once again...rubbish! Apple had a nearly entire line up of glossy displays last quarter and had one of their biggest quarters in history. Apple has more than just its customers from 1992 until 2001. It has its customers of today, and tomorrow. You know, the ones that make up most of its sales today!

There are FAR more people in the computer buying world who don't care about Firewire than who do Hell, there are more people in the computer buying world who have never HEARD of Firewire than there are people who need it.

On the mini, Firewire 800 matters because it allows you to run an external hard drive to improve performance. It's a way of working around the weakness of having a 5,400 RPM laptop drive in your desktop and of significantly expanding hard-drive space. USB2, in that context, just doesn't cut it.

You're right, they don't. But there is a substantial market made of people who do: graphics professionals and gamers. And considering the Mac Pro is 'overkill' (in general) for these people, they want a mid-high end iMac. Which are right now pretty abysmal in hardware terms.

Besides, they might not care now, but in 2-3 years they will care a lot more. And there is nothing worse than buying an Apple computer only to find the lifespan was cut short because Apple couldn't be bothered putting a little more grunt in their machine for those who need or want it.

Unfortunately, Apple's substantial market aren't graphics professionals and gamers. The Apple of 10-15 yrs ago isn't the same Apple of today. Apple doesn't need to tailor itself to the needs of creative professionals anymore to gain sales like it did 10yrs ago. It has a strong footing under itself with real everyday customers. I'm sorry Apple doesn't make the Mac you want. Apple can't be everything to everyone. Thats the problem with a lot of people, they think just because they and a few of their friends wants/needs something, everyone automatically wants/needs it. Apple knows its customer base. It knows who is buying these computers and why they buy them. They're not stupid. They just didn't get where they are today because they made products people didn't want.

On the mini, Firewire 800 matters because it allows you to run an external hard drive to improve performance. It's a way of working around the weakness of having a 5,400 RPM laptop drive in your desktop and of significantly expanding hard-drive space. USB2, in that context, just doesn't cut it.

You do know you can buy a 7200 RPM notebook HD right? If you really need to expand your desktop space to ungodly amounts (1TB or above) then perhaps you're buying a Mac that isn't made for you.

On the mini, Firewire 800 matters because it allows you to run an external hard drive to improve performance. It's a way of working around the weakness of having a 5,400 RPM laptop drive in your desktop and of significantly expanding hard-drive space. USB2, in that context, just doesn't cut it.

Interesting thought. Except, an internal 5400 RPM SATA drive is going to be faster than the external FW800 drive.

There are FAR more people in the computer buying world who don't care about Firewire than who do Hell, there are more people in the computer buying world who have never HEARD of Firewire than there are people who need it.

I don't feel I said anything to praise America or English, or anything to deride other languages.

This simply comes down to the business of markets and revenues. Apple makes some very specific computers that target fairly specific markets that have proven extremely profitable.

If Apple felt it could make a substantial profit from a particular market then it would target that market. There is nothing personal against Arabic or Hebrew, its simply the business of markets and revenues. Someone was here before complaining that Apple did not properly support Russian.

How many of those 500 million people are buying premium computers of the type that Apple sells, Apple may feel its not enough. There are 300 million people in the United States. Roughly 1.2 billion people have some level of competent English.

Also Apple now has 10% world wide marketshare.

Quote:

Originally Posted by greglo

Over 500 million people speak these and other RTL languages. If Apple targets their computers and software correctly they can bring in these markets.

Unfortunately they don't, which partly explains why programs like Mellel have made a killing and why Apple have little relevance anywhere apart from the West (and even then they are still a single-digit market share), Do yourself a favour and stop the gung-ho American 'English for everyone' attitude.

I'll bet my bottom dollar Apple wants more access to Russian and especially Middle East markets. They've made excellent progress with Traditional and Simplified Chinese. A bit more to go, Apple is just trying to figure out how to best do it and do it economically. Apple's foray into Europe has been cautious (look at the number of official Retail Stores there). They're banking on China-Hong Kong-Taiwan because of a lot of manufacturing done there. Japan, well, separate issue, mixed success there.

Back to my point. Apple does, I feel, want to serve Russian and especially Arabic markets much better. A heck of a lot of people want wider and easier access to better Arabic support. Apple is just somewhat conservative on a global expansion level compared to a lot of other companies that throw huge amounts of money at the problem hoping to solve it.

It is not so much a question of English, but users wanting "dual" support. Just like in Asia, it's always handy, and people regularly speak and write, in both English and Chinese/Korean/Japanese, usually in the same sentence, since English words are used for more "modern" terms within Asian language sentences.

Quote:

Originally Posted by TenoBell

I don't feel I said anything to praise America or English, or anything to deride other languages.

This simply comes down to the business of markets and revenues. Apple makes some very specific computers that target fairly specific markets that have proven extremely profitable.

If Apple felt it could make a substantial profit from a particular market then it would target that market. There is nothing personal against Arabic or Hebrew, its simply the business of markets and revenues. Someone was here before complaining that Apple did not properly support Russian.

How many of those 500 million people are buying premium computers of the type that Apple sells, Apple may feel its not enough. There are 300 million people in the United States. Roughly 1.2 billion people have some level of competent English.

I bought the 2.26 mini with 4 GB RAM-Was it overpriced for what you get? YES-absolutely.

That being said, it is MUCH BETTER than the 1.83 it replaced. I can actually watch streaming video now without artifacts or "hiccups". Can't wait to have time to get a game installed on it (work is keeping me hopping right now).

In my opinion, this is the most substantial upgrade since the mini was released. The value of the Nvidia 9400 can NOT be overstated.

The Mac Mini right now is offering some good value at that price/value/size point. The 9400 definitely is an achievement, we're talking graphics and gaming somewhere between the Wii and Xbox360. As for HTPC uses, It can push 1080p without breaking a sweat.

It's a very substantial upgrade because it's been so bloody long since the last time the Mini was updated.

Most of the gripes are about the iMac. For one thing, you tell me how the 9400, as good as it is, can drive 24" 1920x1200 in games, for example. So basically a 24" is more for watching videos. As for iLife and so on, at that resolution, I'm sure a discrete GPU would help, but Apple skimped on it for no apparent reason other than worries about the economy (but risk customers viewing it as poor value for money). I'm talking about the entry-level 24" here that is supposedly "cheaper" but it lost the discrete GPU, the 2600 Pro with *dedicated* 256MB VRAM... Which certainly most cases outclasses the 9400M easily, especially if we're talking about 1920x1200 resolutions. Serious prosumers who use Aperture for example, will definitely need to get the mid-range GT120 24" iMac. Well, maybe that's want Apple loves counting on, the upsell.

That said, I need a Mac for work/life/play so if my white MacBook Core Duo (near the end of the warranty) somehow bites the dust, the Mac Mini 2.0ghz 120gb (upgrade to 2GB RAM) is my straight away GO-TO Mac of choice.

Here's a hint, pop in a 7200rpm drive and the Mac Mini is a decent package for desktop use (certainly Adobe CS4, iMovie, dare I suggest a bit of Aperture, Logic and Final Cut).

Environmentally, I have to say the Mini is interesting because big huge PCs drawing 100 to 500W (or more with heavy gaming) GPUs ~ well, not that easy to swallow nowadays if you've seen a few of Al Gore's slideshows.

Yes I hope they do. I'm certainly not advocating for Apple to ignore or not properly support these languages. I'm simply saying that Apple is going to primarily support what they feel will make them the most money. Hopefully they will be able to expand their language support.

Unfortunately, Apple's substantial market aren't graphics professionals and gamers. The Apple of 10-15 yrs ago isn't the same Apple of today. Apple doesn't need to tailor itself to the needs of creative professionals anymore to gain sales like it did 10yrs ago. It has a strong footing under itself with real everyday customers. I'm sorry Apple doesn't make the Mac you want. Apple can't be everything to everyone. Thats the problem with a lot of people, they think just because they and a few of their friends wants/needs something, everyone automatically wants/needs it. Apple knows its customer base. It knows who is buying these computers and why they buy them. They're not stupid. They just didn't get where they are today because they made products people didn't want.

Well, for February anyways, sounds like they made a number of products some people didn't really want that much compared to last year... ...I don't know if Apple can simply blame the global economy. Maybe. Maybe not. Depends how you look at it.

I did my part. Last week, I ordered the 2.26Ghz Mac mini, 4GB of RAM, and 250GB HDD upgrade along with a 1TB Time Capsule. It's not my main machine (that's the 3.06Ghz iMac), but I really love this updated Mac mini.

That 1TB Time Capsule will replace my original AirPort Extreme 802.11n (Fast Ethernet).